When the crowd erupted into raucous laughter early on in the piece, I knew Detour Theatre were onto a winner with their latest show.

Indeed, Detour's Wedding of the Century is such a delightful and joyful show I found myself walking out of the theatre and into the night with rosy red cheeks and a spritely spring in my step.

Written and directed by Devon Williamson, the show follows the rambunctious residents of the Rest in Peace Rest Home and Funeral Parlour which is turned upside down after 99-year-old resident nun Sister Dorothy announces she wants to get married on her 100th birthday.

Helping organise the nun's upcoming nuptials are rest home's ‘Laurel and Hardy', Nelly and Phyllis, plus gothically gleeful 15-year-old Jessica. All the while, highly strung rest home manager Maxine attempts to maintain order, but fails miserably and hilariously.

Wedding of the Century is a side-splittingly funny production. Once again Devon's offered up a show packed to the rafters with his trademark wit and ridiculousness, snappy one liners, sharp wordplay and verbal repartees, and beautifully soft scenes that gives a moment for pause and warm the heart – the story of the Kabuliwala being one of them for me.

Susi Jansen delivers a fine performance as Sister Dorothy, her treatment of the character is sensitive, respectful and engaging, and left me wanting to know more about Dorothy and her life up to that point. Susi provides a wonderful sense of calm, sweetness and dignity in the show, and this works brilliantly to highlight the noise and hilarity which unfolds all around her.

In contrast, Georgia Thorne who plays Jessica injects the annoying vibrancy of youth which helps keeps the show cracking on at a good pace. Referred to in the show as the ‘Grim Reaper' and ‘The Spawn of Satan' - Georgia is anything but. In what is her second show with Detour, she delivers a great performance as the cheerfully bleak teenager with a heart of gold.

Susi Jansen as Sister Dorothy and Georgia Thorne as Jessica.

I'm showing my bias here, but my favourite character was Octogenarian and resident newshound/editor of the rest home's newspaper Nelly, played by Kim Williamson. Vivacious and full of life, Kim is bang on with her comedic timing, proved she's rather handy with a mop, and left members of the audience rolling in the aisles with laughter.

Nelly's partner in crime is friend and ‘advertising manager' Phyllis played by Jane McKenna. Nelly's a character whose mind is like a steel trap that's rusted over and is now a colander. Some of the biggest laughs were reserved for Jane who show a great talent for comedy, and there were several ‘nincompoop' scenes where I wanted to bundle her up in my arms and hug until she turned blue.

Then there's Maxine, the rest home's long suffering and stressed out manager played by Michelle Parnell who does a fine job presenting a sassy and determined, but ultimately vulnerable character. Energetic, confident and bustling with life, Michele develops and evolves the character well throughout the show, which adds a very nice dimension to the overall story.

Split into two acts, it's the arrival of several characters in the second half which kicks the show up four gears and really drives it home – the mysterious Adita, the Chai Wallah (Amit Kamble), the 'fabulous” wedding planners Raphael and Kushla (Micah Nielson and Tamanna Khurana), plus the no-nonsense bible wielding nun Mother Pat (Lisa Thorne).

Wedding of the Century is a hilarious romp around the rest home, and if the cackles of laughter from the audience throughout the show, or the raucous applause and whistling during the final bow is anything to go by, I expect the Detour cast and crew will enjoy a very successful season.

Detour Theatre presents Wedding of the Century at Detour Theatre in the Historic Village on 17th Ave, Tauranga, until April 8. For more information and tickets, visit www.detour.co.nz

From left, Michelle Parnell as Maxine, Jane McKenna as Phyllis, Lisa Thorne as Mother Pat, Georgia Thorne as Jessica, Susi Jansen as Sister Dorothy, ad Kim Williamson as Nelly.